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I have just purchased this card as it said it was compatible with Mac os x 2.xx or above. I have inserted the card and installed the drivers that were supplied on disk. When I go to my system preferences -> network I get no message implying that new hardware as been found. It say's that this should come up refering to the manual. When I plug a wire from the card to my router it lights up at both ends (card / router). Is there anything I could be doing wrong, it's strange it won't detect the card on the mac. I am using Mac os 10.3.9.

I did some searching around on the web and was only able to find the following info. There may be more out there but what I did find was rather confusing. It seems that Belkin aren't actually given any macs to test their product and point to Apple for the drivers that go with the card you purchased. Apple don't seem to know about this arrangement so it's a bit of a Catch-22.

Of course this doesn't mean that someone else here has better news on this subject.

Belkin F5D5005 report (Problems) from OS X 10.3.x user:
(added 4/27/2006)
"I hesitated to write this because I don't have the level of expertise with PCI cards to understand much of the information provided at http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/OSX/os_x_network_cards.html (this page). However, I thought my experience might help someone else with a similar problem to avoid wasting a lot of time. So, here goes ...
I'm currently running OS 10.3.9 on a dual 867 MHz Power PC G4 with mirrored doors. Here is my Hardware Overview:
Machine Model: Power Mac G4
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (2.1)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 867 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory: 768 MB
Bus Speed: 133 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.4.8f2.
Recently, lightning struck in our front yard, wiping out the ethernet port on my Power PC G4. The balance of my computer seems to be working fine, so I set about finding a PCI Network Card to replace its built-in ethernet port capability.
I called Neatgear, who told me that their GA311 card was incompatible with OS 10.3.9. (some user reports on it with OS X tiger are below and above - native support in OS X Tiger they said with GA311 card.-Mike)
I contacted Belkin by email, explaining my situation and asking them to recommend a compatible card and driver. They responded with the recommendation that I go with their Model F5D5005 Gigabit Desktop Network PCI Card.
A visit to their web site further confirmed the appropriateness of their recommendation. In particular, http://www.belkin.com/support/downlo...oad=F5D5005=1= has a link labeled:
"Mac OS 10.3 F5D5005 Macintosh Driver 9/9/2004 3.07 Mbytes."
Clicking it took me to http://www.belkin.com/support/downlo...ownload=1440=1. There, it appeared you can click on "F5D5005.DMG 1.02 M" to download the driver installation package for OS 10.3.xx. So I bought the card.

I installed the Belkin F5D5005 card and the driver yesterday. It did not work at all: I couldn't reach the Interent with it, none of the four lights on the card's metal frame ever came on, and the ethernet cable connection light on my DSL modem (a Westell VersaLink Model 327W) never acknowledge that the card was cabled to it. (We verified that the modem and cable do work properly by connecting it to a Dell portable running Windows, and then reaching the Internet through it without incident.)

So I called Belkin again -- several times. Two of their Technical Support people and one of their Sales people each independently confirmed to me that the Belkin F5D5005 card is not compatible with Apple computers and neither is the Belkin Model F5D5000 card. A fourth one (in Technical Support) told me that the F5D5005 was compatible, but that Belkin had not yet been able to put up the correct driver on their web site. He said I would need to get the driver from Apple. He wasn't able to offer a plausible explanation for why Apple should have a driver that would work with Belkin equipment when Belkin didn't.

I called Apple anyway. Apple was as surprised by that idea as I was. However, Apple (Josˇ at 1-800-409-5381, x2532) did tell me that they sell a "Gigabit Ethernet PCI X Card" that is compatible with my computer and with OS 10.3.9. He said it sells for just under $100 and it ships with an appropriate driver on CD. He was not able to tell me who makes the card.

So, I'm still dead in the water, but I am now convinced that Belkin is convinced that it does not have a wired network PCI card that is compatible with Apple computers in general. (Contra that, a reader reported here on 9/21/2004 that the F5D5005 does work with certain legacy macs.) (Maybe they changed the chipset used on the card since 2004?-Mike)

I should add, one of Belkin's people recommended that I go with their F5D7050 card. But that is a wireless solution that works on the USB port. Alas, I don't want a wireless solution and I don't want to pile more activity onto my busy USB bus when all four of my PCI slots sit empty and idle. Besides, I've had it with Belkin.
Sincerely yours, Robert W."

Another report on low-cost Gigabit Ethernet PCI Cards (Note - see later post above from 4/27/2006 - Belkin now says this card is not compatible with Macs.)
(added 9/21/2004)
"Hi Mike, Just wanted to let you know the Belkin Gigabit Desktop Network PCI cards Part # F5D5005 work fine on 7300-9600 legacy macs with OSX (Jaguar tested). You have to download the driver from the CD that comes with the package but so far they run fine. I have several 7300's with G4 Sonnet 800 upgrades, Acard 6280m, radeon 7000 and ata100 drives working flawlessly at gigabit and 10/100 speeds. The cards sell for $24.00 at CompUSA. The box lists MacOS v10.2.xx as supported along with most other PC OS.
John "
Other reports on low-cost (often under $20) gigabit cards as well as 10/100 cards and driver download links